Among the very big performances on Sunday (Joel Embiid and his 59 points of course, or Anthony Davis, even Domantas Sabonis with his 26 points and 22 rebounds), Darius Garland logically has its place with 51 points. But he, unlike the others, bowed.
The playmaker of the Cavaliers, who did not have Donovan Mitchell at his side, spared no effort, from start to finish, to beat the Wolves: 51 points therefore, at 16/31 to shoot, 10/ 15 to 3-pts, and 6 assists. In vain then.
“He was hot, that’s obvious”could only see Rudy Gobert in Twin Cities. “We will review the images, but when someone is hot, you have to react faster. It took a little too long to react. »
The last two matches, against Sacramento and Golden State, Darius Garland was however far from being incandescent since he had shot only 6/28!
Against Minnesota, he quickly put in and, in confidence, he scored complicated baskets. A 3-point shot against the long arms of Rudy Gobert in particular, then a buzzer shot at the break, in the middle of three players.
“He was phenomenal”explains JB Bickerstaff at the Plain Dealer. “He kept fighting. We weren’t in it at the start and we could have easily let go, but he insisted, he tried everything to allow us to win. »
“It was a great performance, a demonstration. It was wonderful “
In the last quarter, the All-Star indeed scored 27 points! The Cavaliers, dominated from the start, were still far (20 points apart after 36 minutes), but thanks to his baskets, they came back to three small points in the last seconds.
“I just tried to fight,” says the player, author of the first 50-point game by a Cleveland player since LeBron James in 2017. “It’s our mentality. We are fighters. We dug our own hole in the first quarter and tried to come back. We are like that: we play hard for 48 minutes. We could have succeeded, but we were a bit short. »
But Wolves gritted their teeth and eventually won, inflicting a fourth straight defeat on JB Bickerstaff’s troops. Nevertheless, the show was superb according to Kevin Love.
“It’s special and it shows what Darius is capable of,” declares the interior. “He shot very well at 3-points, he took his positions to keep us in the game. He gave us a chance at the end and that’s all we ask for. It was a great performance, a demonstration. We hope for many more. It was wonderful. »
| Darius Garland | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2019-20 | KEY | 59 | 31 | 40.1 | 35.5 | 87.5 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 3.9 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 2.6 | 0.1 | 12.3 |
| 2020-21 | KEY | 54 | 33 | 45.1 | 39.5 | 84.8 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 6.1 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 3.0 | 0.1 | 17.4 |
| 2021-22 | KEY | 68 | 36 | 46.2 | 38.3 | 89.2 | 0.6 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 8.6 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 3.7 | 0.1 | 21.7 |
| 2022-23 | KEY | 6 | 34 | 35.2 | 30.8 | 84.0 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 8.3 | 2.5 | 1.3 | 3.3 | 0.2 | 16.2 |
| Total | 187 | 33 | 44.0 | 37.5 | 87.4 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 6.4 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 3.1 | 0.1 | 17.3 | |
